And so it begins. Yet another high-profile confirmation hearing for the Trump Administration. This time it centers around attorney William Barr, President Trump’s pick to replace the self-recusing, former attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

So here are five questions the senators should ask Mr. Barr, in my oh-so-humble, non-attorney opinion:

1. Equal Justice

Mr. Barr, your predecessor, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, promised during his confirmation hearing that he would mete out justice equally and blindly. Yet, as of today, no charges have been filed against anyone surrounding Hillary Clinton and her private server. We know that some of Mrs. Clinton’s aides were less that truthful with investigators, yet while former associates of President Trump’s have been indicted, no Clinton associates have been charged with lying to Congress, or to FBI investigators, and no obstruction of justice charges have been brought regarding the destruction of more than 33,000 Clinton emails while under congressional subpoena. Will you, Mr. Barr, assure the American people that you will not take into account the last name of the focus of any investigation, and pledge to impose our laws equally regardless of the person being investigated?

2. Favoritism

It’s been reported that you and your wife are longtime friends with the Muellers, Robert Mueller being the special prosecutor overseeing the investigation into Russian meddling in our 2016 election. Given your decades-long friendship, if the U.S. attorney John Huber finds that violations of our laws have occurred, are you committed to equal justice, even if it points to employees, past or present, of the Department of Justice and the FBI themselves?

3. Leadership

Will you recuse yourself from the Trump/Russia probe as Mr. Sessions did? Can you assure Americans, upon confirmation, that you will be fully in charge at the DOJ?

4. Free Speech and Privacy

We know that many examples exist of the last administration’s hostility toward free speech. It’s been reported that Rod Rosenstein and the DOJ are “exploring ways to more easily spy on journalists.” We know from reports that under Eric Holder the DOJ likely spied on elected officials, and that during his tenure, the department surveilled multiple journalists. We still have a First Amendment in this country, as well as the right to privacy. Can you assure Americans that you will protect not only their right to free speech and association, but also the press’s inalienable right to free speech, unassailed by the federal government? What steps will you take to protect our First and Fourth Amendments?

https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/status/1084961311455350785

5. Discrimination and “Hate Crimes”

As we all know, no one has been held accountable for the targeting of Tea Party groups heading into the 2012 election. Nor have numerous violent crimes targeting conservatives by leftist perpetrators. Can you assure Americans that you will prosecute crimes specifically targeting conservatives just as vigorously as any other so-called “hate crime”?

The list of crucial questions is long, and should also include queries about this, this, and this. Whether or not the Republicans will have the cajones to ask them is another question. So here’s hoping the 2.0 version of Lindsey Graham shows up today.

Meanwhile, we can expect the religious bigots on the judiciary committee—that’d be Kamala Harris, and her tag-team partner, Spartacus Booker—to request that Mr. Barr recuse himself from anything containing the word “Russia,” so that they can have themselves another hamstrung attorney general, as the Swamp Creatures continue to ignore those who actually interfered in the 2016 election (hint: the head of the snake den is a two-time loser, and an unindicted felon). And if Mr. Barr happens to be a man of faith, we may even hear disturbing diatribes like this:

Democrats Suspect Knights Of Columbus For ‘Extreme’ Works Of Charity The two Senators should do some research into what the KOC actually stands for and the good work they do. There anti religion stance is just plain wrong and un-American. https://t.co/nKGM7USemw

— John Patterson (@Dekejlp) January 5, 2019

And, of course, they will demand that Mr. Barr protect their beloved “insurance policy,” also know as the Mueller Investigation:

Trump's attorney general nominee William Barr will pledge at his confirmation hearing to protect Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's 2016 election campaign coordinated with Russia: "On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work." https://t.co/UItTQRYrxT

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) January 14, 2019

So there’s my two cents. Are there questions you hope are asked during Mr. Barr’s confirmation hearing? Share them in the comments.

You can watch the hearing live here starting at 9:30 a.m. ET:

And for the record, Democrats, you can thank Harry Reid for the forgone conclusion that Barr will be the next Attorney General of these United States.

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Feature image credit: Wikimedia. This image is a work of a United States Department of Justice employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain (17 U.S.C. § 101 and 105). Image cropped.